Internet television in Australia

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these messages) This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Internet television in Australia" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (July 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message) This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (January 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Internet television in Australia is the digital distribution of movies and television content via the Internet. In Australia, internet television is provided by a number of generalist, subscription-based streaming service providers, in addition to several niche providers that focus on specific genres. Australia's five major free-to-air television networks also all offer catch up TV of previously broadcast content to watch via their webpages and apps, and a number of ISPs and other companies offer IPTV – the live streaming of television channels sourced from Australia and elsewhere.

A feature of Internet television is that a user can view live television or video on demand. Some distributors provide content as downloads, while other only allow streaming; the main difference being that with downloads the end-user must have storage capacity for the content on their device and must wait for the download to be completed before the content can be viewed, whereas streamed content can be viewed almost immediately, but is not stored for a later viewing.

Whether downloaded or streamed, video files over the Internet are sometimes metered in Australia, with ISPs setting download quotas which can limit the downloads that a subscriber can make without incurring additional costs. Many ISPs now also provide plans with unlimited downloads. Some ISPs offer downloads on a quota-free basis for partnered television services, which is also known as "unmetered" content.